Virtual Factory Reference Architecture

The Virtual Platform reference architecture extends the “classic” supply chain processes with more advanced features, such as cloud manufacturing and digital marketplaces, targeted at distributed organizations and virtual enterprises. The Virtual Platform brings the business ecosystem framework from FIWARE’s Apps Chapter into the manufacturing domain.
The Virtual Platform extends the “classic” supply chain processes with more advanced features, such as cloud manufacturing and digital marketplaces, that are mostly targeted at distributed organizations and virtual enterprises. The Virtual Platform brings the business ecosystem framework from FIWARE’s Apps Chapter into the manufacturing domain: six GEs, dealing with enterprise collaboration / interoperability and with digital asset sharing, are the foundation of a higher-level software layer which addresses a variety of use cases. In this layer, each FITMAN SE has its own specific scope and responsibility:
• CAM – Collaborative Assets Management is a platform for the virtualization and management of digital assets
• SCApp – Supply Chain & Business Ecosystem Apps is a web-based application for exploiting digital assets in the context of capacity scheduling and team building processes
• CBPM – Collaborative Business Process Management is a web-based design and execution environment for semantically-annotated business processes
• DIPS – Data Interoperability Platform Services is a platform, based on open standards like WSMO and WSMX, supporting semantic-based web service interoperability
• SeMa – Metadata and Ontologies Semantic Matching is a desktop application which helps users define conceptual mappings (i.e., translations) between different OWL-based ontologies and XML schemas
The connections between all of these components are highlighted in the diagram below.